Trial delayed for Appleton school principal

May 2, 2014

Richard Waters

Written by

Jim Collar

Post-Crescent Media

CHILTON — The trial for an Appleton elementary school principal accused of withholding suspicions of child abuse and obstructing police has been pushed back to September.

Richard J. Waters, 50, was scheduled to stand trial in late May in Calumet County on misdemeanor charges of obstruction and failure to report child abuse.

Assistant District Attorney Douglass Jones said the delay was due to scheduling conflicts.

The case relates to the 2011 investigation of Mary Berglund, a former Appleton special education teacher who was convicted of battery charges and sentenced to probation.

Waters, principal of Janet Berry Elementary School, went to former Assistant Superintendent Yvette Dunlap after a paraprofessional came forward with documentation of Berglundís physical mistreatment of students, according to court records. Dunlap contacted child welfare workers five days later. Police say 15 days passed from the initial report until they were given sufficient information to open an investigation.

Dunlap, who retired in 2011, wasnít charged.

Prosecutors accuse Waters of altering a letter from the paraprofessional before giving it to police. They also say Waters lied to police about when he first learned details of the allegations.

Waters was re-assigned from Janet Berry to the Appleton Area School District offices in January.

Waters, who faces up to 15 months in jail if convicted on both charges, will go to trial on Sept. 4.